When I say, up until the end of April this year I had never ran before, I really do mean it. For so many years I'd suddenly say I want to start running, my mum would take me on a small 2 mile run and I'd hate it. I would get anxious, think I was going to have an athsma attack and just cop out and never go again. But, my whole family was into running, they all did a local park run and were all a hell of a lot more healthy than I am. I had also bought a gym membership while I was at uni and I just never went. There was no motivation there, no exercises I really enjoyed or felt like I could improve on, I was at a dead end. So with the app on my phone I dragged my best friend along and we went on the first run of the app.
How the 'Couch to 5k' app works is you get a 9 week programme with 3 runs a week. At the beginning it is a mix of running and walking and this slowly escalates into a 30 minute run at 9 weeks. I found the mix of running and walking really helped me to get over the mental block of 'I physically can't run'. I was diagnosed with athsma when I was 14 and although I did sometimes use it as an excuse when I didn't want to do PE, I genuinely did struggle. I have now managed to overcome the fear that every run will end in an athsma attack and actually my athsma has got a lot better since I have started running more frequently.
The first few runs were so hard. Getting the motivation and avoiding the temptation to just stop and walk at 30 seconds was difficult! But I got through that bit and slowly found my way. Before the next big milestone e.g. running for 5 minutes, I would think to myself I am never going to be able to do that, and then I would do it and I would be incredibly proud of myself, and the more of these milestones I hit the more confident I got with being able to hit the next one. Having these small milestones to hit made it so much easier to get into rather than just flat out trying to run for 30 minutes. After struggling to run for a minute at the beginning I can now say I am happily running 3 miles in about 35 minutes and making more and more progress with every run.
This app was so helpful and is the sole reason I am running as well as I am now, it kept me going, gave me motivation, I wanted to complete the app and I have and I'm now looking for somewhere to do a 10k run! I can't recommend this app enough for anyone who wants to get into running.
I really cannot wait to get back to uni and start running as my exercise rather than wasting money on a gym membership that I will honestly never use and never see any improvement in my fitness because I don't know enough about the gym machines! I also love running outside, I love the freedom of running and being able to be completely flexible with it. I know running really isn't for everyone but if you have an interest in it, try this app, you will not be disappointed.
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